The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...

that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir by an American author or co-authors, published during the preceding calendar year. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.

Winners

In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, none in 1962.

1910s

* 1917: '' Julia Ward Howe'' by Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, assisted by Florence Howe Hall *

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

: ''

Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed ''Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed'' is a biography of Benjamin Franklin written by William Cabell Bruce in 1917. A "biographical and critical study based mostly on Benjamin Franklin's own writings", the book won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography ...

'' by

William Cabell Bruce William Cabell Bruce (March 12, 1860May 9, 1946) was an American politician and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who represented the State of Maryland in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1929. Background Bruce was born in Charlotte County, V ...

* 1919: '' The Education of Henry Adams'' by

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. Presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

1920s

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

: ''The Life of John Marshall'', 4 vols. by Albert J. Beveridge *

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in Brazil. ** The Spanish liner ''Santa Isabel'' bre ...

: ''The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After'' by Edward Bok *

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

: ''A Daughter of the Middle Border'' by Hamlin Garland * 1923: ''The Life and Letters of

Walter H. Page Walter Hines Page (August 15, 1855 – December 21, 1918) was an American journalist, publisher, and diplomat. He was the United States ambassador to the United Kingdom during World War I. He founded the ''State Chronicle'', a newspaper in Ral ...

'' by

Burton J. Hendrick Burton Jesse Hendrick (December 8, 1870 – March 23, 1949), born in New Haven, Connecticut, was an American author. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hold ...

: ''From Immigrant to Inventor'' by Michael I. Pupin * 1925: ''Barrett Wendell and His Letters'' by M. A. Dewolfe Howe * 1926: ''The Life of Sir William Osler'', 2 vols. by

Harvey Cushing Harvey Williams Cushing (April 8, 1869 – October 7, 1939) was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease ...

* 1927: ''Whitman'' by

Emory Holloway Rufus Emory Holloway (March 16, 1885 in Marshall, Missouri – July 30, 1977 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) was an American literary scholar-educator most known for his books and studies of Walt Whitman. His ''Whitman: An Interpretation in Narrative' ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

: ''The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas'' by Charles Edward Russell * 1929: ''The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page'' by

1930s

* 1930: ''The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston'' by Marquis James * 1931: ''Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901'' by

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hir ...

: ''Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography'' by

Henry F. Pringle Henry Fowles Pringle (1897–1958) was an American historian and writer most famous for his witty but scholarly biography of Theodore Roosevelt which won the Pulitzer prize in 1932, as well as a scholarly biography of William Howard Taft. His w ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

: ''Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage'' by Allan Nevins * 1934: ''John Hay'' by Tyler Dennett *

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

: ''R. E. Lee'' by

Douglas S. Freeman Douglas Southall Freeman (May 16, 1886 – June 13, 1953) was an American historian, biographer, newspaper editor, radio commentator, and author. He is best known for his multi-volume biographies of Robert E. Lee and George Washington, for both ...

* 1936: ''The Thought and Character of William James'' by Ralph Barton Perry * 1937: ''Hamilton Fish'' by Allan Nevins * 1938: ''Pedlar's Progress: The Life of Bronson Alcott'' by Odell Shepard * 1938: ''Andrew Jackson'', 2 vols. by Marquis James * 1939: ''

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading int ...

'' by Carl Van Doren

1940s

* 1940: ''Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII'' by Ray Stannard Baker * 1941: ''Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography'' by

Ola Elizabeth Winslow Ola Elizabeth Winslow (January 5, 1885 in Grant City, Missouri – September 27, 1977 in Damariscotta, Maine) was an American historian, biographer, and educator. She won a Pulitzer Prize in 1941 for her biography of Jonathan Edwards, an 18th-ce ...

* 1942: ''Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe'' by

Forrest Wilson Robert Forrest Wilson (January 20, 1883 in Warren, Ohio – May 9, 1942 in Weston, Connecticut) was an American author and journalist. He won the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for his biography, ''Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe''. ...

* 1943: ''Admiral of the Ocean Sea'' by Samuel Eliot Morison *

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in ...

: ''The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse'' by

Carleton Mabee Carleton Mabee (December 24, 1914 – December 18, 2014) was an American writer who won the 1944 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for ''The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F B. Morse''. Life Mabee was born in Shanghai. He grad ...

* 1945: ''George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel'' by Russel Blaine Nye * 1946: ''Son of the Wilderness: The Life of

John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologis ...

'' by

Linnie Marsh Wolfe Linnie Marsh Wolfe (January 8, 1881 – September 15, 1945) was an American librarian. She won the 1946 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for her 1945 biography of John Muir titled ''Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir'' (New ...

* 1947: ''The Autobiography of William Allen White'' by William Allen White * 1948: ''Forgotten First Citizen:

John Bigelow John Bigelow Sr. (November 25, 1817 – December 19, 1911) was an American lawyer, statesman, and historian who edited the complete works of Benjamin Franklin and the first autobiography of Franklin taken from Franklin's previously lost origina ...

'' by Margaret Clapp * 1949: ''Roosevelt and Hopkins'' by Robert E. Sherwood

1950s

* 1950: ''John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy'' by Samuel Flagg Bemis * 1951: ''John C. Calhoun: American Portrait'' by Margaret Louise Coit * 1952: ''Charles Evans Hughes'' by

Merlo J. Pusey Merlo John Pusey (February 3, 1902 in Woodruff, Utah – November 22, 1985 in Washington, D.C.) was an American biographer and editorial writer. He won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the 1952 Bancroft Prize for his 195 ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito is chosen President of Yugosl ...

: ''Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803'' by

David J. Mays David John Mays (November 22, 1896 – February 17, 1971) was an American lawyer and writer. He attempted to slow racial desegregation on behalf of Byrd Organization during the Massive Resistance era. Mays served as counsel to the Gray Commissio ...

* 1954: ''

The Spirit of St. Louis The ''Spirit of St. Louis'' (formally the Ryan NYP, registration: N-X-211) is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlanti ...

'' by Charles A. Lindbergh *

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijiangs ...

: ''The Taft Story'' by

William S. White William Smith White (May 20, 1905 – April 30, 1994) was an American journalist between the 1920s and 1970s. During his career, White worked with the '' Austin Statesman'' from 1926 to 1945 and the ''New York Times'' from 1945 to 1958. Upon leav ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

: ''Benjamin Henry Latrobe'' by

Talbot Faulkner Hamlin Talbot Faulkner Hamlin (June 16, 1889 – October 7, 1956) was an American architect, architectural historian, writer and educator. Ginling College, Peking University, and the Wayland Academy were among his major work projects, particularly in Ch ...

* 1957: '' Profiles in Courage'' by John F. Kennedy *

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

: ''George Washington, Volumes I-VII'' by Douglas Southall Freeman with John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth * 1959: ''Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet'' by

Arthur Walworth Arthur Clarence Walworth (July 9, 1903 — January 10, 2005) was an American writer and biographer. Of his works from the 1930s to 1980s, Walworth wrote two books on Woodrow Wilson. As part of a 1958 two volume biography on Wilson, Walworth receive ...

1960s

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

: ''John Paul Jones'' by Samuel Eliot Morison *

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

: ''Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War'' by David Donald * 1962: no award given In 1962 the Pulitzer board awarded the prize to

W.A. Swanberg William Andrew Swanberg (November 23, 1907 in St. Paul, Minnesota – September 17, 1992 in Southbury, Connecticut) was an American biographer. He is known for ''Citizen Hearst'', a biography of William Randolph Hearst, which was recommended by th ...

for ''Citizen Hearst''. The trustees of

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, who administer the prize, overturned the award, refusing to honor a book that took a critical look at

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

. * 1963: ''Henry James'' by Leon Edel * 1964: ''John Keats'' by

Walter Jackson Bate Walter Jackson Bate (May 23, 1918 – July 26, 1999) was an American literary critic and biographer. He is known for Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography-winning biographies of Samuel Johnson (1978) and John Keats (1964).

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

: ''Henry Adams'', 3 vols., by Ernest Samuels * 1966: '' A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House'' by

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a s ...

* 1967: ''Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain'' by

Justin Kaplan Justin Daniel Kaplan (September 5, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City – March 2, 2014 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an American writer and editor. The general editor of ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' (16th and 17th eds.), he was best kno ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

: '' Memoirs'' by

George F. Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

: ''The Man from New York: John Quinn and His Friends'' by Benjamin Lawrence Reid

1970s

* 1970: '' Huey Long'' by Thomas Harry Williams *

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

: ''Robert Frost : The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938'', by

Lawrance Thompson Lawrance Roger Thompson 3 April 1906 — 15 April 1973) was an American academic at Princeton University from the 1930s to 1970s. Apart from World War II, Thompson primarily taught English from 1939 to 1968 before teaching Belles-lettres from 1968 ...

* 1972: ''

Eleanor and Franklin ''Eleanor and Franklin'' may refer to: * ''Eleanor and Franklin'' (book), 1971 biography by Joseph P. Lash ** '' Eleanor: The Years Alone'', 1972 companion volume to the previous biography * ''Eleanor and Franklin'' (miniseries), 1976 television ...

'' by Joseph P. Lash * 1973: ''Luce and His Empire'' by

W. A. Swanberg William Andrew Swanberg (November 23, 1907 in St. Paul, Minnesota – September 17, 1992 in Southbury, Connecticut) was an American biographer. He is known for ''Citizen Hearst'', a biography of William Randolph Hearst, which was recommended by t ...

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

: ''O'Neill, Son and Artist'' by

Louis Sheaffer Louis Sheaffer (né Slung October 18, 1912 – August 7, 1993) was an American journalist for the ''Brooklyn Eagle'' between 1934 and 1955. After the newspaper's closure in 1955, Sheaffer wrote a two part biography on Eugene O'Neill and released th ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

: '' The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York'' by

Robert Caro Robert Allan Caro (born October 30, 1935) is an American journalist and author known for his biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson. After working for many years as a reporter, Caro wrote '' The Power ...

* 1976: ''Edith Wharton: A Biography'' by

R. W. B. Lewis Richard Warrington Baldwin Lewis (November 1, 1917 - June 13, 2002) was an American literary scholar and critic. He gained a wider reputation when he won a 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, the first National Book Critics Circle ...

* 1977: ''A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence'' by John E. Mack * 1978: ''Samuel Johnson'' by

* 1979: ''Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews'' by Leonard Baker

1980s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year. *

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

: '' The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt'' by Edmund Morris ** ''Being Bernard Berenson'' by Meryle Secrest ** ''Bernard Berenson, The Making of a Connoisseur'' by Ernest Samuels ** ''The Duke of Deception'' by Geoffrey Wolff * 1981: '' Peter the Great: His Life and World'' by Robert K. Massie ** ''Walt Whitman: A Life'' by

** ''Walter Lippmann and the American Century'' by Ronald Steel *

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

: ''Grant: A Biography'' by

William S. McFeely William Shield McFeely (September 25, 1930 – December 11, 2019) was an American historian known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 biography of Ulysses S. Grant, as well as his contributions to a reevaluation of the Reconstruction era, and fo ...

** '' Mornings on Horseback'' by David McCullough ** ''Waldo Emerson'' by Gay Wilson Allen * 1983: '' Growing Up'' by Russell Baker ** ''Churchill: Young Man in a Hurry, 1874–1915'' by Ted Morgan ** ''Thomas E. Dewey and His Times'' by Richard Norton Smith * 1984: ''Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915'' by Louis R. Harlan ** '' Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just'' by

Kenneth Manning Kenneth R. Manning (born December 11, 1947) is an American academic professor and author. He is currently the Thomas Meloy Professor of Rhetoric and of the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Early life and ed ...

** ''Thomas Carlyle: A Biography'' by Fred Kaplan * 1985: ''The Life and Times of Cotton Mather'' by Kenneth Silverman ** ''Becoming William James'' by Howard M. Feinstein ** ''The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton'' by Michael Mott *

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

: ''Louise Bogan: A Portrait'' by Elizabeth Frank ** ''A Hidden Childhood: A Jewish Girl's Sanctuary in a French Convent, 1942–1945'' by Frida Scheps Weinstein ** ''George Washington Williams: A Biography'' by John Hope Franklin * 1987: '' Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' by

David J. Garrow David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

** ''Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860–1865'' by Joseph Frank ** ''Murrow: His Life and Times'' by A.M. Sperber ** ''The Life and Times of Congressman John Quincy Adams'' by Leonard L. Richards * 1988: '' Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe'' by David Herbert Donald ** ''George Santayana: A Biography'' by John Owen McCormick ** ''Hemingway'' by Kenneth S. Lynn *

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

: ''Oscar Wilde'' by Richard Ellmann ** ''

A Bright Shining Lie ''A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam'' (1988) is a book by Neil Sheehan, a former '' New York Times'' reporter, about U.S. Army lieutenant colonel John Paul Vann (killed in action) and the United States' involvement in ...

: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam'' by Neil Sheehan ** '' Freud: A Life for Our Time'' by Peter Gay ** ''The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II, 1941–1967: I Dream a World'' by

Arnold Rampersad Arnold Rampersad (born 13 November 1941) is a biographer, literary critic, and academic, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to the US in 1965. The first volume (1986) of his ''Life of Langston Hughes'' was a finalist for the Pulitzer ...

1990s

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

: ''Machiavelli in Hell'' by Sebastian de Grazia ** ''A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt'' by

Geoffrey C. Ward Geoffrey Champion Ward (born 1940) is an American editor, author, historian and writer of scripts for American history documentaries for public television. He is the author or co-author of 19 books, including 10 companion books to the documentar ...

** ''Clear Pictures: First Loves, First Guides'' by Reynolds Price ** ''

The Road from Coorain Jill Ker Conway (9 October 1934 – 1 June 2018) was an Australian-American scholar and author. Well known for her autobiographies, in particular her first memoir, '' The Road from Coorain'', she also was Smith College's first woman president ( ...

'' by Jill Ker Conway * 1991: '' Jackson Pollock: An American Saga'' by

Steven Naifeh Steven Naifeh (born June 19, 1952) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer of both Jackson Pollock and Vincent van Gogh. In addition to writing 18 books with Gregory White Smith, Naifeh is a businessman who founded several companies, incl ...

and

Gregory White Smith Gregory White Smith (October 4, 1951 – April 10, 2014) was an American biographer of both Jackson Pollock and Vincent van Gogh. In addition to writing 18 books with Steven Naifeh, Smith was an accomplished musician, historic preservationist, a ...

** ''Alfred I. Du Pont: The Man and His Family'' by Joseph Frazier Wall ** ''The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends 1880–1918'' by

Patricia O'Toole Patricia O'Toole is an American historian who taught at Columbia University. She is a Society of American Historians fellow and was a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, ...

* 1992: ''Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller Jr.'' by Lewis B. Puller ** ''Frederick Douglass'' by

** ''Orwell: The Authorized Biography'' by Michael Shelden * 1993: '' Truman'' by David McCullough ** ''Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman'' by James Gleick ** '' Kissinger: A Biography'' by Walter Isaacson *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

: '' W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919'' by David Levering Lewis ** ''Genet: A Biography'' by Edmund White ** ''In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding'' by

Deborah Baker Deborah Baker is an American biographer and essayist. She is the author of ''A Blue Hand: The Beats in India'', a biography of Allen Ginsberg that focuses on his time in India and of ''In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding'', a finalist for the P ...

* 1995: ''Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life'' by Joan D. Hedrick ** ''Hugo Black: A Biography'' by Roger K. Newman ** ''Saint-Exupery: A Biography'' by

Stacy Schiff Stacy Madeleine Schiff (born October 26, 1961) is an American former editor, essayist, and author of five biographies. Her biography of Vera Nabokov won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in biography. Schiff has also written biographies of French aviator ...

* 1996: '' God: A Biography'' by

Jack Miles John R. "Jack" Miles (born July 30, 1942) is an American author. He is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the MacArthur Fellowship. His writings on religion, politics, and culture have appeared in numerous national pu ...

** ''John Sloan: Painter and Rebel'' by John Loughery ** ''Mozart: A Life'' by

Maynard Solomon Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist, a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in '' Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

: '' Angela's Ashes: A Memoir'' by

Frank McCourt Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood. Early life and education Frank ...

** ''Herman Melville: A Biography, Volume 1, 1819–1851'' by

Hershel Parker Hershel Parker is an American professor of English and literature, noted for his research into the works of Herman Melville. Parker is the H. Fletcher Brown Professor Emeritus at the University of Delaware. He is co-editor with Harrison Hayford of t ...

** ''In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country'' by Kim Barnes * 1998: '' Personal History'' by

Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham (June 16, 1917 – July 17, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher. She led her family's newspaper, '' The Washington Post'', from 1963 to 1991. Graham presided over the paper as it reported on the Watergate scandal, w ...

** ''Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public-Private Life'' by James H. Jones ** ''Whittaker Chambers: A Biography'' by Sam Tanenhaus *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

: '' Lindbergh'' by A. Scott Berg ** '' A Beautiful Mind'' by

Sylvia Nasar Sylvia Nasar (born 17 August 1947) is an Uzbek German-born American journalist. She is best known for her biography of John Forbes Nash Jr., '' A Beautiful Mind'', for which she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. Nasar curr ...

** ''At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A Life'' by

Francine du Plessix Gray Francine du Plessix Gray (September 25, 1930 – January 13, 2019), was a French-American Pulitzer Prize–nominated writer and literary critic. Early life and education She was born on September 25, 1930, in Warsaw, Poland, where her father ...

2000s

* 2000: ''Vera, Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov'' by

** ''Clear Springs: A Memoir'' by Bobbie Ann Mason ** '' Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love'' by Dava Sobel * 2001: '' W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963'' by David Levering Lewis ** ''Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician'' by Christoph Wolff ** ''The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin'' by

H.W. Brands Henry William Brands Jr. (born August 7, 1953) is an American historian. He holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his PhD in history in 1985. He has authored 30 books on U.S. histor ...

* 2002: '' John Adams.'' by David McCullough ** ''An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Boyhood'' by

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

** ''Grant'' by Jean Edward Smith * 2003: '' Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson'' by

** ''Beethoven: The Music and the Life'' by Lewis Lockwood ** ''The Fly Swatter'' by Nicholas Dawidoff * 2004: '' Khrushchev: The Man and His Era'' by William Taubman ** ''Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work'' by

Hayden Herrera Hayden Herrera (née Philips; born November 20, 1940) is an American author and historian. Her book '' Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo'' was turned into a movie in 2002 and Herrera's biography ''Arshile Gorky: His Life and Work'' was named a fin ...

** ''Isaac Newton'' by James Gleick * 2005: '' de Kooning: An American Master'' by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan ** ''Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America'' by William Souder ** ''Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare'' by Stephen Greenblatt * 2006: '' American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' by Kai Bird and

Martin J. Sherwin Martin Jay Sherwin (July 2, 1937October 6, 2021) was an American historian. His scholarship mostly concerned the history of nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation. He served on the faculty at Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvan ...

** ''The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism'' by Megan Marshall ** ''

The Year of Magical Thinking ''The Year of Magical Thinking'' (2005), by Joan Didion (1934–2021), is an account of the year following the death of the author's husband John Gregory Dunne (1932–2003). Published by Knopf in October 2005, ''The Year of Magical Thinking'' was ...

'' by Joan Didion * 2007: '' The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher'' by Debby Applegate ** ''Andrew Carnegie'' by David Nasaw ** ''John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty'' by Arthur H. Cash *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

: '' Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father'' by

John Matteson John Matteson (born March 3, 1961) is an American professor of English and legal writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his first book, '' Eden's Outc ...

** ''The Life of Kingsley Amis'' by Zachary Leader ** ''The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein'' by Martin Duberman *

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

: '' American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House'' by Jon Meacham ** '' The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century'' by Steve Coll ** ''Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt'' by

2010s

* 2010: '' The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt'' by

T.J. Stiles T. J. Stiles (born 1964 in Foley, Minnesota) is an American biographer who lives in Berkeley, California. His book '' The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009) won a National Book Award and the ...

** ''Cheever: A Life'' by

Blake Bailey John Blake Bailey (born July 1, 1963) is an American writer and educator. Bailey is known for his literary biographies of Richard Yates, John Cheever, Charles Jackson, and Philip Roth. He is the editor of the Library of America omnibus editio ...

** ''Woodrow Wilson: A Biography'' by John Milton Cooper, Jr. * 2011: '' Washington: A Life'' by Ron Chernow ** ''Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon'' by

Michael O'Brien Michael or Mike O'Brien may refer to: Politicians * Michael O'Brien (Fianna Fáil politician), Irish former councillor and mayor of Clonmel * Michael O'Brien (Ohio politician) (born 1955), American politician in the state of Ohio * Michael O'Bri ...

** ''The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century'' by

Alan Brinkley Alan Brinkley (June 2, 1949 – June 16, 2019) was an American political historian who taught for over 20 years at Columbia University. He was the Allan Nevins Professor of History until his death. From 2003 to 2009, he was University Provost. ...

* 2012: '' George F. Kennan: An American Life'' by John Lewis Gaddis ** '' Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention'' by Manning Marable ** ''Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution'' by Mary Gabriel *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

: '' The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo'' by Tom Reiss ** ''Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece'' by

Michael Gorra Michael Gorra (born 17 February 1957) is an American professor of English and literature, currently serving as the Mary Augusta Jordan Professor of English Language and Literature at Smith College, where he has taught since 1985. Writing and ...

** ''The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy'' by David Nasaw *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

: ''Margaret Fuller: A New American Life'' by Megan Marshall ** ''Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World'' by Leo Damrosch ** ''Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life'' by Jonathan Sperber * 2015: '' The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe'' by David I. Kertzer ** ''Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism'' by Thomas Brothers ** '' Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928'' by Stephen Kotkin * 2016: ''Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life'' by

William Finnegan William Finnegan is a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'' and author of works of international journalism. He has specially addressed issues of racism and conflict in Southern Africa and politics in Mexico and South America, as well as poverty ...

** ''Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America'' by

** ''The Light of the World: A Memoir'' by Elizabeth Alexander * 2017: '' The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between'' by Hisham Matar ** '' In the Darkroom'' by

Susan Faludi Susan Charlotte Faludi (; born April 18, 1959) is an American feminist, journalist, and author. She won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1991, for a report on the leveraged buyout of Safeway Stores, Inc., a report that the Pulitze ...

** '' When Breath Becomes Air'' by Paul Kalanithi * 2018: '' Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder'' by

Caroline Fraser Caroline Fraser is an American writer. She won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, and the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography, for '' Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder'', a biograph ...

** ''Richard Nixon: The Life'' by John A. Farrell ** ''Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character'' by Kay Redfield Jamison * 2019: '' The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke'' by

Jeffrey C. Stewart Jeffrey Conrad Stewart (born 1950 in Chicago) is an American Professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He won the 2018 National Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for his book ''The ...

** ''Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siècle Paris'' by Caroline Weber ** ''The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam'' by Max Boot

2020s

* 2020: '' Sontag: Her Life and Work'' by Benjamin Moser ** ''Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century'', by George Packer ** ''Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and Me'' by Deirdre Bair * 2021: '' The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X'' by

Les Payne Leslie Payne (July 12, 1941 – March 19, 2018) was an American journalist. He served as an editor and columnist at ''Newsday'' and was a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists. Payne received a Pulitzer Prize for his investig ...

and Tamara Payne ** '' Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath'', by Heather Clark ** ''Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World'' by Amy Stanley * 2022: '' Chasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow South'' by

Winfred Rembert Winfred Rembert (1945–2021) was an African-American artist who used hand-tools and shoe dye on leather canvases. Early life Winfred Rembert was born on November 22, 1945, in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. Raised by his great-aunt, he wo ...

and

Erin I. Kelly Erin I. Kelly is an American philosopher and author. She is a professor of philosophy at Tufts University. Her book ''Chasing Me to My Grave'', which she co-wrote with the subject Winfred Rembert, won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Biography. Educa ...

** '' Pessoa: A Biography'', by Richard Zenith ** '' The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine'' by Janice P. Nimura

Repeat winners

Ten people have won the Pulitzer for Biography or Autobiography twice: *

, 1923, 1929 * Allan Nevins, 1933, 1937 * Marquis James, 1930, 1938 *

, 1935, 1958 * Samuel Eliot Morison, 1943, 1960 *

, 1964, 1978 * David Herbert Donald, 1961, 1988 * David Levering Lewis, 1994, 2001 * David McCullough, 1993, 2002 *

, 1975, 2003

W. A. Swanberg William Andrew Swanberg (November 23, 1907 in St. Paul, Minnesota – September 17, 1992 in Southbury, Connecticut) was an American biographer. He is known for ''Citizen Hearst'', a biography of William Randolph Hearst, which was recommended by t ...

was selected by the Pulitzer board in 1962 and 1973; however, the trustees of Columbia University (then responsible for conferral of the awards) overturned the proposed 1962 prize for ''Citizen Hearst''.

References

External links

* {{PulitzerPrize BiographyorAutobiographyAuthors

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

Biography awards Awards established in 1917

Winners

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Repeat winners

See also

References

External links